Sustainable business

People

Having a talented, qualified and healthy workforce is key for a.s.r. in achieving its business objectives. That is why a.s.r. is committed to attracting, retaining and inspiring the best people, offering them extensive scope for training and development, and facilitating a sound work/life balance.

a.s.r. aspires to be a sustainable employer by:

recruiting, developing and retaining the best people;

creating an environment of objective and transparent leadership, allowing responsibility to be given and taken;

ensuring a focus on trust, so that engagement and performance go hand in hand;

investing in the empowerment and sustainable mobility of people, both within and outside the organization.

Sustainable employability

Sustainable employability involves ensuring that employees can continue to participate as long and as fully as possible in the labour market while retaining their vitality. An important precondition is that they are highly motivated and have the right skills and training. a.s.r. contributes to this by offering them oppertunties to develop themselves and improve their labour market prospects, both at a.s.r. and elsewhere. All a.s.r. employees are entitled to support for increasing their sustainable employability; they can ask to receive career counselling and choose from a wide range of workshops and courses. In 2016, 295 employees received sustainable employment counselling and 112 availed themselves of mobility services (redundancy programmes).

Diversity

Owing in part to the introduction of the Dutch Participation Act, a.s.r. developed a policy that is designed to hire a set number of people with an occupational impairment every year; these people are referred to as 'a.s.r.'s exceptional talents. The Participation Desk is designed to assign low skilled workers with an occupational impairment to jobs in various business lines. Highly educated persons with an occupational disability are recruited through special channels; they are given preference over equally suitable candidates who do not have an occupational impairment.

Engagement

In 2016 the engagement scan was once again used to measure the extent to which employees feel committed to a.s.r. The engagement score rose to 65.0% in 2016, a 11,5%-point rise on 2015.

The engagement score rose for the following reasons:

Employees take more pride in a.s.r. and its reputation;

Employees have more faith in the company;

Employees give a higher rating to their development options within a.s.r.;

Employees are more motivated to contribute to a.s.r.’s success.

Works Council

The Works Council of a.s.r. represents employees' interests and consults with the CEO on matters affecting the company. The starting point is a focus on the shared interest of the company. The Works Council represents the interests of everyone at a.s.r. and weighs up both the interest of the company and that of the employees.

The structure, procedures and the position of the members of the employee representation bodies at a.s.r. have been documented in writing and this information can be consulted by all employees.

The Works Council and its subcommittees have an advisory role in significant commercial and organizational issues, including restructuring (merging or splitting of departments or business lines), acquisitions and integrations.

With regard to staff policy issues (e.g. performance appraisals, pensions and working conditions), the Works Council has a right of consent in many cases. This applies to policy concerning appraisals, working conditions, pensions, appointments, etc. In addition, the Works Council can exercise its statutory right to speak. This gives the Works Council the opportunity to voice its views on significant proposed board decisions before and during AGMs.

Frequency of meetings and compositionThe members of the Works Council are elected for a period of three years. The Works Council meets 12 times a year and consults formally with the Executive Board six times a year. Twice a year, the state of affairs in the company is discussed in the presence of two members of the Supervisory Board. The topics that are addressed in any event are the company's financial performance and its strategic plans. A meeting at which the Works Council, Executive Board and Supervisory Board are all represented is held at least twice a year. These meetings are attended by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and another member of the Supervisory Board, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Works Council, the CEO and the Director of Human Resources.